Social Media and Small Business

Social media is a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their audience and expand their marketplace. Social media includes many different networks such as Facebook, Insta, Twitter, Google My Business, TikTok, Snap Chat, YouTube, and many others.?As the world becomes more reliant on social, social media and other online marketing methods are an important focus for small businesses. Social media offers many different platforms that enables businesses the opportunity to engage and interact with customers and prospects, in real time.?We have discussed social media marketing in many of our blogs – so make sure to read those too!

Does anyone remember the marketing of the 80s, 90s, or even 2000s??Yellow pages were where it was at! I know salespeople who started their businesses by calling people in the phonebook. ?At that time, there was not a “Do Not Call” registry and marketing was focused on traditional methods such as TV, billboards, and Radio.?Many businesses also used mailers (which were easier to track), referrals, and networking to generate more sales.?Traditional marketing efforts were much harder to measure – now, we have the opportunity to communicate and engage with our clients/prospects in real time.?

There are currently 4.59 billion active social media users as of September 2022.        

However, depending on the source – only 60% to 72% of small businesses use social media. According to Spout Social, as of January 2022 – there were 3.96 billion total social media users across all platforms and the average person bounces between SEVEN different social networks per month. ??However, according to Oberlo, there are currently 4.59 billion active social media users as of September 2022.?Social media is growing – some platforms may be slowing in terms of growth in users, but others are picking up pace - like TikTok and BeReal.?

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is creating content for social media platforms to promote your products and services, build a community with your targeted audience, and drive traffic to your business.?

Target Market- A target market is the people who would be more likely to desire or need the services or products you offer.?Identifying your target market includes looking at specific demographics such as age, gender, or location and looking at psychographics like lifestyle and interests. Identifying your target market is essential for creating a social media marketing plan for your business.

Our blog about starting a business is a great article to learn more about identifying a target audience.

Why Use Social Media?

Companies like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube are examples of social media platforms that help engage users worldwide. As a small business owner, we need to be where our customers are.?Here are some other stats to keep in mind when determining if your business should invest time and effort in social media –

• According to Pew Research, “today around seven-in-ten Americans use social media to connect with one another, engage with news content, share information and entertain themselves.”
• “Social media is growing in terms of its reach and impact, and this statistic is here to show just that. 75% of internet users use social media to research products (DataReportal, 2022).”
• 69% of Americans use Facebook. (Statista, 2021) - Hubspot
• LinkedIn has over 774 million users, with roughly a quarter of them being U.S. internet users. (Statista, 2021)
• eMarketer forecasts that Instagram will reach 1.1 billion users in 2022. (eMarketer, 2021)
• 28% of customers resolve issues with a company via messaging. (Zendesk, 2020)?
• Salespeople active on social media report 45% more sales opportunities. (LinkedIn, 2020)

Social media can be a powerful tool for small businesses.?This article will discuss the basics of social media, while offering tips and resources for business owners to use.?

Organic vs. Paid Marketing –

Organic Social Media Marketing - Organic social media marketing is a strategy that generates traffic to your business over time rather than using paid methods.?It includes posting content across social media from posts, photos, videos, reels, and stories to sharing posts and networking within groups.?Keywords matter – make sure those are incorporated into your social and SEO efforts.?

Organic marketing on social media builds your followers, brand, and credibility through consistent long-term effort (and activities).?It also helps your posts get viewed by more people.?Organic marketing is an important bucket for marketing a small business.?It takes time and effort – but does have a hand in building long-term pipeline.?It usually is not a short-term tactic – but if you have a post go viral, all bets are off!?HA!?

The best way to attack your organic marketing on social media is to make a plan, have a positive attitude, and execute it.?

• Make a list, use a calendar, or project management tool to schedule out when and what you will post on specific dates.?Mark off a couple of hours a week on your calendar to plan and update your social media plan. From our experience, if you write it down or plan it – the task is more likely to be completed.?
• What platforms are you on (or need to be on based on your target market and the demographics of the platform)?
• How often can you post? Multiple times a day, once a day, couple times a week, etc?
• Do you take pics and video of you or your team in action??Make a plan to have new content in your social media plan.
• In your social media plan, use posts that educate, provide value, and connect to your target customer.?Posts about the what, why, how, when, and where of your small business – visuals are very important to use with posts. Also, provide information from credible sources that would benefit your customers – community involvement, causes, things to do, etc.
• You can use scheduling tools in Facebook and Instagram and can purchase other tools to schedule multiple platforms.?We use Sendible as our social media scheduling tool since we post across multiple client accounts and platforms– we can schedule across social platforms and can post reels, posts, videos, or photos (depending on the platform).?There are many other tools that can help small businesses with scheduling across multiple platforms – here are a few resources: Social Media Scheduling Tools, 8 Top Social Media Scheduling Tools to Save Time, Grow Your Audience with Buffer, or Social Media Publishing with Later.
• If you have no time – do you need to hire a company like mine to handle it for you?
• Marketing works better together as a whole – than in its parts.?Are you able to run ads to enhance or optimize organic efforts?

Paid Social Media Marketing

Paid marketing aims to target, reach, and engage customer or prospects.?A lot of the time, sales are based on timing.?A person needs a widget and then boom – the widget company shows an ad at the right time.?Paid ads help businesses reach their target market.?In order for someone to remember a brand, a person needs to hear the same thing multiple times - the number of times they need to hear it ranges by person, but a good rule of thumb is 3 to 12 for a client and 7 to 12 times for a prospect (per year).?If a user hasn’t interacted with a brand and has a lot of friends, the user may not see the organic posts from a business on social media – paid ads help ensure they do. ?

any social media platforms offer paid ads for small business owners. Depending on the platform, the ads may be a video, photos, or a post. Paid ad costs range across platforms – we have noticed that many social platforms are using daily budget options for ads. A daily budget is what you are willing to spend per day on ads – keep in mind that ad costs can go over the daily budget on some platforms. Some people think of marketing, especially paid ads, as a cost instead of an investment. What’s the return on the investment – for every $1 spent on ads how much comes back as revenue? A good rule of thumb for marketing ROI is a 4:1 ratio or higher.

The only way to know that is tracking and if you are running ads and engaging in multiple marketing buckets – make sure you are using analytic data, a CRM, spreadsheet, or at a min - asking customers how they heard of you.?

Social Networks & Resources –

Google My Business (GMB)

Google My Business (GMB) is a local search listing in Google search results. It is not the true sense of social media, but since posts, photos, and videos can be added, like other social media sites, we put it into the social category to give tips and tricks to enable businesses to connect with their customers.

GMB enables small businesses the ability to show in search results in a local area – if someone is searching for your service or product, you want to be in those searches. As a result, Google My Business is an undervalued tool for many small businesses. Google Ads and Local Service Ads are not what we are speaking of here – we are talking about the map pack or organic local listing. According to Think with Google, "59% of shoppers surveyed say they use Google to research a purchase they plan to make in-store or online." This is a great opportunity for small businesses owner to inform and connect with potential and future clients. Small businesses can setup a free profile and post to it for free as well.?Ads can also be run on a Google My Business profile.

Google My Business Resources:

• If you don't have access to your business profile on GMB, claim it on Google by searching for your business name. If there is not one listed on Google, create one. https://www.google.com/business/?
• Updating your business on GMB is important to reach your audience, gain valuable insights, and grow your brand. You can do this by adding photos and video files to show the products and services that your business offers. https://support.google.com/business/answer/6103862?hl=en?
• Insights on GMB show many customers found you via Google searches or Google maps and how many people interact with your business. Knowing this information helps to provide key insights.

Facebook

Facebook is made primarily for social networking, allowing users to connect and discover new things. There are over 2.7 billion monthly active users, with 9 million plus advertisers who use Facebook to connect with their audience. Small businesses can use Facebook to engage and communicate with their followers through posts, reels, groups, and paid ads.?According to Facebook, “An online presence can help you raise awareness for your business, find more customers and increase both online and local sales.”

Facebook Resources:

• Build a Presence for Your Business Online
• Facebook for Business: Everything you Need to Know
• 7 Ways to Use Facebook for Small Businesses and Creators

Instagram

According to Statista - In 2021, there were 1.21 billion monthly active users of Meta's Instagram, making up over 28 percent of the world's internet users. By 2025, it has been forecast that there will be 1.44 billion monthly active users of the social media platform, which would account for 31.2 percent of global internet users.?61.9% of Insta users are between the ages of 18 and 34 years old.?Small businesses can post for free and also run paid ads.

Instagram Resources:

• Get Your Business Started on Instagram
• Instagram Marketing: The Definitive Guide (2022 Update)
• The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Instagram for Business

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking site where users can send short (280-character) messages called Tweets.??According to Statista, “As of the second quarter of 2022, Twitter had 237.8 million monetizable daily active users (mDAU), indicating steady growth in users in recent years. Twitter finds popularity amongst those aged 25 to 34 years, with this age group accounting for 38.5 percent of the social platform’s worldwide user base in 2021. Additionally, men made up 56.4 percent of Twitter’s audience.” According to Twitter, 89% of people use Twitter o discover new products.?Small Businesses can post for free but can run ads and sponsor tweets.

Twitter Resources

• Small Business Resources
• Twitter for Small Business: How to Grow in 2022 and Beyond
• Twitter Marketing Tools: 4 Tips to Develop a Twitter Marketing Strategy

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is great for networking, connecting, and building relations. It is a great social media platform for creating new networks to reach out to future employees and establish new relationships for many different purposes. There are over 774 million users worldwide.?LinkedIn helps establish credibility and much more – check out my past blog on LinkedIn – Online Networking and Making Connections. ?For small business owners, LinkedIn has two profiles for you – a personal profile page and a company page. ?Users can post free and run paid ads.

LinkedIn Resources:

• LinkedIn Pages: Action Plan for Small Businesses
• How to Use LinkedIn for Business in 2022: A Simple Guide
• How to Make a LinkedIn Business Page and Use LinkedIn for Your Business

YouTube

With over 2.1 billion monthly active users on YouTube worldwide, YouTube is a great social platform for connecting businesses and consumers through advertising video content that generates awareness, engagement, and conversations. As the seco[nd most visited website, second to Google, YouTube has been seen as a platform for sharing content through videos and shorts. In the U.S. alone, 62 percent of Americans use YouTube daily and 98 percent monthly. ?Small Businesses can post videos for free but can also run paid ads.

YouTube Resources:

• Resources and Guides to Get Started on YouTube
• 6 Tips for a Killer Small Business YouTube Strategy
• How to Start a YouTube Channel in 12 Steps

TikTok

According to TikTok, TikTok is the world's leading destination for short-form mobile videos. TikTok serves up a medley of personalized videos to each user via their For You Page: a mix of videos from accounts you follow and other content they think will appeal to you.?For Small Businesses – it’s a unique way to reach potential clients and customers.?TikTok is more prominently younger users – but people of all ages are starting to ride the TikTok wave. 81% of users use TikTok to discover new products and brands. Small businesses can post videos for free but can also run ads.

TikTok Resources:

• TikTok’s Small Business Marketing Guide
• 19 TikTok Content Ideas for Business
• How to Use TikTok For Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

Conclusion:

We have reviewed the basics of social media marketing, characteristics of some of the networks, and resources for small business owners. Social Media is a powerful tool for small business owners – make sure to review your current strategy or to plan a social media strategy for next year.?

Us marketers from back in the day (ha), like me, appreciate the abilities that social media gives business owners – real time communication, direct measurement, and the ability to reach a targeted or large audience at a moment’s notice.?We have more power at our fingertips - than ever before. As small business owners, we must use that to our advantage and reach our customers where they are!?